Curriculum Overview

Epi Kardia is literature-based, unit study curriculum that is organized chronologically by nine historical units and integrates history, science, language arts and fine arts. Although primarily used in home school settings, Epi Kardia's innovative methodology is also currently being utilized by private Christian and Cottage schools. 

We have three basic types of curriculum:

1. Complete Programs that cover three (or four, in the case of High School) academic years - you write your own daily plans using the tools and assignment ideas we give you
2. Daily Lesson Plans, written for specific grade levels that include weekly goals and objectives for each subject and daily lesson plans, integrating history, science (K-8), language arts, fine arts and projects
3. High school courses  with all student assignments and teacher instructions (including how to evaluate and grade each assignment) contained within

Epi Kardia Complete Programs 

Epi Kardia has a variety of curriculm designed to accommodate families with different needs and goals. For parents/teachers who desire less structure and/or who enjoy creating their own lesson plans, we offer Epi Kardia Complete Programs in four components: Primary Complete Program (Kindergarten through Second Grade), Intermediate Complete Program (Third through Fifth Grades), Preparatory Complete Program (Sixth through Eighth Grades) and Secondary Complete Program (Ninth through Twelfth Grades).

Each Complete Program includes:

	Nine historical unit booklets and one across-the-units Resources booklet.
	A mulit-page historical overview of each time period to aid in teacher preparation and/or for older students to read.
	A 100 page teaching manual, including time/home/supply management tips, how to teach history, language arts, science, fine arts, and projects. Additionally addresses learning and teaching styles and more. Click to see Table of Contents of our lower (K-5th) and upper (6th-12th)grade manuals.
	Tools CD with customizable charts and forms for student note-taking and parent records. Upper grades manual includes high school course planning/record-keeping forms and samples.
	A set of bookmarks, covering many benchmark dates in history, which can be used for memory work.

History, science, language arts (grammar, spelling, composition, literature study, poetry) and fine arts all in one curriculum that can be used for multiple years.  All you need with the curriculum to teach the subjects above are books (often available at your local public or church library), a detailed grammar reference book, art/science/general school supplies, and a willingness to take an active role in planning and supervising your student(s) education!

Epi Kardia Daily Lesson Plans

For those who would like more structure with less teacher preparation required, Epi Kardia offers programs with Daily Lesson Plans already prepared. These programs also integrate history, science (in K-8th grade), language arts (grammar, spelling, composition, literature study, poetry), and fine arts, but all of the lessons are planned for you in advance. The lessons include teacher's keys, discussion questions, memorization work, dictation passages, spelling words, map work, poetry lessons, composition assignments, and much, much more!  Currently, daily lesson plans are offered for Kindergarten (Kindergarten Complete Program), First, Third and Fourth Grades, as well as one level of Middle School that can be used over multiple years. 

To learn more about Epi Kardia curriculum and to see sample weeks, please click on the links below. (Note that curriculum samples appear in color, but printed copies are sold in black and white.)

Sample Teaching Schedule

Sample  Teaching Schedule --Click on the heading to see a sample Epi Kardia schedule for one school year. Of course, we want to remind you that ANY home school curriculum should be used as a tool to fit your family, schedule and teaching style. Feel free to modify the schedule as needed. If your students love the Medieval period, feel free to spend more time there. The next year, consider skipping or shortening the Medieval unit if you would like to spend more time in another unit. As well, many Epi Kardia families just start the school year where they left off the year before. Epi Kardia is designed to be used to fit your family. 

Also, remember that if you are teaching older students, especially in high school, you may want to follow the two year schedule suggested in the Epi Kardia manuals (or your own schedule!) to allow for more in depth study. To read more about scheduling and planning courses for the high school student, go to Secondary Complete Program.

Subject Descriptions

Subject Descriptions --Click here to view descriptions of the subjects incorporated into Epi Kardia: Bible (for Kindergarten Complete and Complete programs), history, science, language arts and fine arts.

High School Courses

 In addition to our other curriculum, we are now offering high school courses. Our first course is actually two courses in one:   World History-World Literature. With our literature-based World History-World Literature curriculum, you can teach two complete high school courses (and give 2 credits)—without overlapping books! To read a description of the curriculum as well as view a downloadable sample, click here.

Additional high school courses currently offered are Essay Styles for High School, A Study in American Writers, and  The Steps to Writing a Research Paper.